About Us
Villa Maison started life as a Furniture and Homewares importer and wholesaler, retailer in Melbourne Australia. After 17 years it has now evolved into a lifestyle business based on all things French, including tours, accommodation, Brocante and bespoke collections. (including a bit of Byron Bay!)
History
Villa Maison was founded in 2003 by Elly Clues. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Elly travelled widely and lived in countries such as the UK, Tanzania, Belgium and France.
Elly settled in Australia and identified an opportunity to bring her unique European decorating ideas to Australia and started Villa Maison from a small office in her home. The company started as a wholesale business, representing Elly’s favourite brand from Holland. By the end of the first year, Elly was sourcing product from many suppliers, and within 2 years was designing and developing her own collections to suit the Australian market, whilst retaining her unique European style. Villa Maison started to diversify to furniture, fashion and vintage wares (from France), and delivered over 40 containers of beautiful products to customers. Elly was travelling constantly, sourcing new ideas, new suppliers and establishing the base for future growth. After 17 years, Villa Maison had a water shed moment and downsized to re-launch itself as a French inspired lifestyle company, focusing on all the things Elly loves, Travel, Accommodation and Shopping.
Meet Your Host, Elly Clues
Elly Clues, founder and creative director of Villa Maison, draws her inspiration from many experiences, but her heritage influences her the most.
Born and raised in The Netherlands, Elly spent many years living in Amsterdam surrounded by the majesty of canals, cafés and beautiful houses, houses built in an age when craftsmen hand made everything, and style was fashionable. One of the most fashionable houses in the street, was always Elly’s childhood home, where her mother was constantly styling and decorating.
Elly’s love of travel led her to work for KLM Airlines, and for many years Elly travelled to far off destinations, absorbing the local style of the architecture and culture of the people. Some of her favourite destinations include Alaska, France, India and Kenya. Her love of languages has seen Elly live in many countries, including Tanzania, England, and France. Elly’s career then changed course, and for many years, Elly worked in marketing for major companies such as Peugeot. Whilst travelling in Vietnam, Elly met her future husband and finally settled in Australia, first in Perth then Melbourne.
Elly’s experiences, her Dutch heritage and her love of decorating and travel, become the motivation to start Villa Maison, and in 2003 a brand was born. Elly now lives in Perth with her husband but travels regularly across the globe to many countries for her business. After buying a ‘maison secondaire’ in Provence, Elly started to focus on the things that bring joy to her life, including France culture, travel and shopping for Brocante and Antiques.
"My inspiration comes from many things I see. The shape of a building, the ribbon in someone’s hair, the colour of a dress, it is endless. I make mental notes all the time, or make a quick sketch in my little notebook. Being European, I also continually draw from my upbringing and background. I am lucky, as this provides me with a melting pot of images and memories of cultures that are close to my heart and have shaped me to who I am today".
Our Philosophy
Our Vision
Villa Maison has a clear vision to bring warmth, joy and beauty to all homemakers through the provision of inspirational, innovative and unique collections. We aim to stand out from the crowd, to make our customers feel inspired, happy and special.
Our Values
We will always operate with respect and integrity, never compromising our people, our customers or our stakeholders in the pursuit of success. We will be customer driven, working with passion and commitment to ensure we always deliver the best we can. We will operate with an unrelenting desire to continuously improve our products, our services, our people and therefore our success. We will support communities that are less well off than us in particular the communities from which we source our products.
Our Goal
Our goal is to become the supplier of first choice for all of our customers. When customers think of buying products of beauty, that are innovative and inspirational, that will bring joy and happiness to their home, they will think of Villa Maison first.